Rent

Your Rent Is Due in Advance

Every OTHA tenant has a Scottish Secure Tenancy Agreement which states:-

"The rent is £_______every calendar month inclusive of the service charge payable in advance by you on or before the first day of each rental period."

This means that by the 28th of each month, your rent account should be showing a full month’s rent in credit. This is to pay the rent for the coming month which is then charged on the 1st of the month.

Our staff work with existing tenants to ensure that rent accounts are in advance and if they are not then we are happy to make an agreement that will allow small, regular payments to be made that will bring the account into advance over a period of time.

All new tenants are be expected to pay a full month’s rent before the tenancy begins and the offer will be withdrawn if payment is not made.

This will mean that if you are thinking of moving to another Oak Tree Housing Association property you will need to pay the full month’s rent for your new property before you sign the tenancy agreement.

This helps make new tenants aware of some of the costs of taking on a tenancy and realise that they have a responsibility to pay rent – even if they are entitled to benefit assistance.

If you are likely to be affected by Universal Credit in the future then you will need to wait at least 5 weeks for your first monthly payment and you will be responsible for paying rent for that 5 week period. Having a full month in advance on your rent account will help you at that time as your rent will be covered for a month.